Brazilian President Lula da Silva called on the United States and the European Union to make efforts to find a peaceful solution to the military conflict in Ukraine.
“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union needs to start talking about peace so that we can convince (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian President Vladimir) Zelenskyy that the whole world is interested in peace, and that this war is not only the two of them,” Lula da Silva told reporters (quote from G1 ).
The Brazilian leader also said that as part of his trip to China, he had a long conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which he defended his idea of creating a group of countries “wishing to find a way to reconcile”. According to Lula da Silva, the countries which supply arms to the parties to the conflict “encourage war”. The Head of State urged them to refuse such supplies.
The idea of creating a multilateral format for the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict like the G20 Lula da Silva voiced in January. Then he stressed the need to bring together a group of states with “sufficient strength, which will be respected at the negotiating table”. China, India and Indonesia could also play an important role in these negotiations, underlined Lula da Silva.
According to the Brazilian president, the international community is not taking enough measures to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, and the ongoing negotiation initiatives have exhausted themselves, since the mediators have “nothing to offer” to Moscow and Kiev. “I don’t know if it will be a 20, a 10 or a 15, but the world needs peace”, said Lula da Silva.
In April, the Brazilian President critical American and European authorities, accusing them of not wanting to seek a peaceful solution to Ukraine.
“We believe that developed countries, especially the EU and the US, should not have been willing to enter (in conflict) so early without first giving sufficient time to negotiations <…> Someone outside should help. And I’m sure Ukraine and Russia are waiting for someone from outside to invite them to negotiations,” he said.
Among other things, the Brazilian president called Russia’s decision to send troops to Ukraine a “big mistake”, as well as declared on the refusal to supply arms to the parties to the conflict. In particular, in January, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, citing sources informed that the South American country refused to transfer ammunition for German Leopard tanks to Kiev, despite a corresponding request from Germany. Lula da Silva explained his decision saying he didn’t want to ‘provoke the Russians’.
In February, the Brazilian leader urged provide Moscow with “minimum conditions” for the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.
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